


Between dreams and consciousness

by cian1675



Series: Dream-eater [1]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Dream-eater, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 13:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7441135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cian1675/pseuds/cian1675
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because he's too tired, Bambam accidentally falls asleep with his hand dangling off his bed, something he's paranoid about and never ever does. What happens when he wakes up to find something cold against his hand? More importantly, why does it feel like his hand is being held <i>tenderly</i>?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between dreams and consciousness

Bambam’s always been a light sleeper, but when he’s dead tired, like right now, having just barely completed his essay and battled the slow school wifi to email the assignment to his professor before the 2359 deadline, he finds himself drifting off once his head touches the bed, even though Yugyeom is snoring softly on the other side of the small dorm room they share. On any other day, the snoring would have kept him awake for at least an hour before his need to sleep takes over, and he’ll spend the time arranging his limbs on his bed so that no part of his body is dangling off the edge (he’s always been a bit paranoid of monsters under his bed since young). Right now though, he's exhausted enough to throw caution to the wind and just flop onto his soft bed, eyes closing before he’s even properly lying fully on the bed.

 

 

Still mostly unconscious with sleep, Bambam feels something _off_ , and he vaguely registers that his arm is hanging off the side of his bed. _Ah yeah, that’s probably why it feels kind of cold, because it’s not under the blanket like the rest of his body_. _Hmm, and it’s also not on the bed, like the rest of his body is_ –

Wait.

His first reaction to realizing that he’d left his arm dangling off the bed, against all common sense (okay, maybe not _common_ sense, but _Bambam_ sense, whatever you want to call it), is to quickly pull it back onto the bed. But that turns out to be impossible, because his left arm is kind of numb from blood not fully circulating past where it’s pressed against the edge of the bed, and Bambam has to wait before he can feel his arm, let alone move it. He’s trying not to panic while he waits for feeling to return to his arm, but the moment some feeling comes back, Bambam’s heart speeds up in fear, because he feels _something_ against his hand.

Something _cold_ , freezing even.

The horrific realization is quickly followed by the physical sensation of his hand being _tenderly_ held, now that more blood is flowing through his arm and the feeling is returning to his hand. Not comprehending what’s going on, Bambam lets his eyes slowly glance to his left while keeping his head utterly still, hoping to see if he can figure out what’s happening. All he sees is darkness, and something vaguely moving, which could be anything from a plastic bag in the room, to Yugyeom’s blanket, so Bambam decides to close his eyes and turn his body so that he’s lying on his side instead of his back, to get a better look of what’s holding his hand.

Turning while pretending to be asleep turns out to be more difficult than he expects, and the tender holding of his left hand turns into what feels like two… hands (?) cradling his own between them. Unsure if opening his eyes will scare whatever is holding his hand (or maybe whatever it is will scare him instead), Bambam lets his eyelashes slightly flutter as he tries to peek past lidded eyes. The attempt turns out to be futile because he still only sees what looks like something moving. In frustration, Bambam’s eyelids fly open before he realizes what he’s doing, and the gasp he makes is echoed by a higher pitched voice from beside his bed.

With a mouth opened in a small O, a pale translucent teenage boy stands by Bambam’s bed, holding Bambam’s left hand between both of his hands.

 

 

“What –“ Bambam’s brain doesn’t fully understand what his eyes are seeing, and apparently his mouth hasn’t caught up either. The figure in front of him looks like a normal Korean boy, around twenty or so (a bit older than he initially assumed), with dark hair and wearing a sweater and jeans. He’ll look normal, like any other student in the dorm, except that he’s also pale and translucent, and case in point, Bambam can still see Yugyeom’s sleeping face through the chest of this stranger.

“Oh my gosh, you’re not supposed to see me,” the boy says softly, eyes flickering left and right like he’s worried. He’s just fidgeting in his spot, not really moving, and still holding onto Bambam’s left hand, and Bambam wonders if he pulls, whether this _boy_ will finally let go of his hand.

He decides to do it, because the stranger is still fidgeting, and Bambam could really at least get his hand back, so he can sit up properly and not lie awkwardly near the edge of the bed with one arm stretched out. The boy lets go of his hand easily when Bambam pulls, though his face looks startled, like he had forgotten he had still been holding on to it.

“S-sorry, I’m so sorry,” the boy mutters, head bowed, and Bambam thinks he must be slightly crazy (he’s heard that lack of sleep does funny things to the brain, and he’s been up two nights trying to finish the essay, so maybe that’s why), because he hears himself saying, “It’s alright. You can hold my hand if you want. But who are you anyway?”

The boy doesn’t seem to expect Bambam’s words, and he blinks a few times while Bambam sits up, rearranging his blanket so it’s not bunched up at his waist. When the boy still doesn’t speak, Bambam tilts his head slightly, hoping that it will prompt the boy to speak.

“Oh, erm,” the boy says, still nervous, “I-I’m a dream-eater, I consume bad dreams from people.”

“Were you… helping me consume my bad dreams?” Bambam asks, kind of curious now. The rapid nods the boy gives answers his questions, and Bambam hears himself asking again, “So, you’re a dream-eater. Do you have a name?”

“Y-Youngjae.”

The boy’s still fidgety, though less so now, and Bambam pats the bed, gesturing for him to sit down beside him, which he does.

“So Youngjae, I guess I’m not supposed to see you, but since I did, will you tell me what you were doing before I woke up?”

Youngjae’s seated cross-legged, looking at his lap with his palms facing upwards in an awkward pose, and Bambam decides to put his left hand over Youngjae’s right, hoping the contact will loosen up his stiff posture (it does). Youngjae’s hands are still freezing, but Bambam lets him lightly trace the back of his hands, because Youngjae’s expression relaxes once he’s drawing circles on Bambam’s hand. He even relaxes enough to not sound nervous when he answers, “I told you just now, I eat bad dreams. That was what I was doing before you woke up. Helping you get rid of a nightmare so you can sleep better.”

“Ah, right, of course. Thank you, Youngjae,” Bambam replies, noting the slight smile curling up on the other’s face. He’s not too sure what to do now, because who even knows what’s the best course of action when you find a dream-eater by your bed while you were sleeping? It was lucky Bambam had been too surprised to scream, and is currently exhausted and dazed enough to think it’s not too strange to be talking to Youngjae, a dream-eater who’s also translucent. He wonders if he’s dreaming, because that would make a lot of sense.

“You’re not dreaming,” Youngjae says softly, with a light laugh. “If you are, you won’t be able to see me.”

“Okay, if you say so. Though I wonder why I am seeing you right now, if you’re not supposed to be seen?” Bambam half considers that he’s really more out of it than he thought, if he’s continuing the conversation with Youngjae at who-knows-what-time in the middle of the night, and _wait, had Youngjae heard his thoughts?_

“I’m only catching some of your thoughts because I’m holding your hand,” Youngjae replies, sounding slightly nervous, “but I’m not trying to peek at anything, so don’t worry. And I guess I was just lonely, consuming people’s bad dreams for them, but never getting recognized for the effort, so I had been moping a bit just now, while digesting your dream.”

_Oh._ Bambam wonders what it must feel like, to be doing something nice for other people by getting rid of their bad dreams, but never getting to interact with them. _It must suck a lot._ He’s kind of getting sleepy right now, and Bambam’s fighting against his heavy eyelids when he says, “I will remember what you’ve done for me.”

The smile Youngjae gives him is bright, and Bambam thinks it might be worth having the strange conversation even if he’s really almost half asleep while sitting right now. There’s a light touch against his forehead, and Bambam finds himself lying back down, with the cold hands of Youngjae against his neck to slowly lower his head.

“Will you come by again?” Bambam mumbles, speech mostly incoherent from drowsiness, but he thinks Youngjae understands, because their hands are still connected, and he hears a soft “Yes” before sleep fully overcomes him again.

 

 

When Bambam wakes up in the morning, he only has a vague memory of what happened the night before, something to do with dreams and a cute boy, but he forgets it once Yugyeom wakes up, yawning loudly as he stretches. When Yugyeom sees that he’s already up, he quickly grabs a jacket and hurries out of the room, and Bambam’s wondering what’s up with his best friend.

Despite the odd morning, the day passes quickly, and Bambam finds himself lying on his bed at 11pm, earlier than he usually sleeps, but strangely looking forward to falling asleep. He pulls his blanket to cover his shoulders, but then decides to leave his arms out because it’s kind of hot. He manages to drift to sleep after listening to Yugyeom tap away at his laptop in the background for what is probably an hour.

 

 

When he wakes up, the room is still dark, and there’s cold fingers massaging his left palm. Bambam blurrily blinks to clear his sleep foggy vision, and Youngjae’s beside his bed, sitting on the floor as he presses the soreness away from Bambam’s hand.

“Hello,” Bambam croaks, voice deep with sleep still.

“Hey,” Youngjae replies, in a much nicer voice than Bambam’s. “I’m only letting you see me again today because you asked, but I can’t make this a habit. I’m not supposed to get close to humans.”

Bambam looks at Youngjae, who has a slightly sad face, and he uses his free hand to gently brush the fringe out of the boy’s eyes as he says, “I guess I shouldn’t hope to see you again tomorrow, huh?”

“No, you shouldn’t,” is Youngjae’s reply, as he continues massaging Bambam’s hand, moving up to his arm now. “But, if it makes things better, we can talk all we want tonight.” There’s a tiny smile on Youngjae’s face that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and Bambam decides to return his smile with a bigger one, hoping it’ll chase away the sadness in the boy’s eyes.

It seems to work, because Youngjae’s eyes turn up into crescents, and Bambam finds himself becoming a bit more awake as he starts asking Youngjae questions that pop into his head, from what his favourite colour is, to whether he’s the only dream-eater, and Youngjae answers each of them with a smile. (Red, and no, he’s not the only one. There’re more dream-eaters out there.)

Bambam’s wondering what else he should ask, when suddenly Yugyeom groans from his side of the room, face scrunched and feet jerking. _Is he having a nightmare?_ Bambam turns to look at Youngjae, but the other is already standing up, moving to stand beside Yugyeom’s bed. Bambam also gets off his bed, walking to stand next to Youngjae, who’s picking up Yugyeom’s hands.

“Is he having a nightmare? Can you help?” Bambam whispers, hoping he’s not disturbing Youngjae who currently has his eyes close, face tense as he lightly cradles Yugyeom’s right hand. There isn’t any answer for a while, and Bambam just waits, watching Yugyeom’s and Youngjae’s faces in turn for any indication of what’s going on. Eventually, Yugyeom’s face relaxes, and Youngjae’s eyes flutter open, mouth slightly slack before he puts Yugyeom’s hand back down on the bed.

“How was it? Did you consume his bad dream?”

Youngjae’s still dazed, but he replies, “It wasn’t a bad dream, but everything’s okay now.”

_Oh. So it wasn’t a bad dream. Why was Yugyeom groaning and moving then?_ Bambam doesn’t really understand how any of this works, and he’s about to ask, when Youngjae places a finger to his lips, and whispers, “Hush now, it’s almost morning, and you need to sleep.”

There’s cold hands guiding him to his bed, and soothing touches on his forehead while Bambam covers himself with his blanket and snuggles into bed. He’s starting to forget what he had wanted to ask when Youngjae says, “I’m going to go soon, but I thought you should know that the last two nights have been fun. You probably won’t remember any of this tomorrow, but if you do, you should ask Yugyeom about his dream.”

That’s all Bambam hears before sleep blankets him.

 

 

An incessant ringing jolts him out of slumber, and Bambam’s not surprised to see that Yugyeom isn’t up yet, even though it’s _his_ alarm. _What will you do without me_ , Bambam wonders, as he kicks off his blanket to walk over to Yugyeom’s bed to shake him awake.

“Wake up, Yugyeom. You set an alarm for some reason, so you need to be up.”

There’s a bunch of incoherent mumbling, and Bambam sighs, as he grabs his best friend’s shoulders to shake him again. This time, the guy opens his eyes, and he stares blurrily at Bambam for a few moments before he’s suddenly jumping off the bed, and running out the door, presumably to the bathroom.

Still wondering about Yugyeom’s strange behavior, Bambam sits on his chair, as he tries to remember the strange dream he had last night. He doesn’t remember much, only the feeling of being happy, and something about Yugyeom. _Yugyeom? Oh! Yugyeom’s dream. There was something about asking Yugyeom what his dream is…_

That makes no sense at all. Why would his dream tell him to ask Yugyeom about _his_ dream? Yugyeom comes back into the room just then, and Bambam decides to tell him about it, “Hey Yugyeom, I had a strange dream last night, and it told me to ask you what you had dreamt about last night. Weird huh?”

Bambam expects his friend to laugh, or agree with him on how odd it sounds, but instead, there’s a red blush creeping up Yugyeom’s cheeks, and Yugyeom’s hurriedly opening his wardrobe to find a change of clothes.

“Why do you look so flustered?” Bambam asks, coming up behind Yugyeom, who startles from his question.

“Nothing,” Yugyeom says, trying to push Bambam away so he can close his wardrobe door. Bambam takes a step back, but still stares at the taller boy, waiting for a better answer.

“It’s nothing, really,” Yugyeom mutters, laying his hoodie and jeans down on the bed, but not making a move to change.

“Your face’s really red, that doesn’t sound like nothing. Or maybe… did you have _that kind_ of dreams last night?” Bambam’s just teasing, and it’s not like Yugyeom and him both haven’t had sexual fantasies in dreams before, but Yugyeom’s ears suddenly get really red too, and Bambam wonders if he had guessed right. “Oh my gosh, Yugyeom, really?”

“It’s not what you think!” Yugyeom’s turning so his back is facing him, but Bambam can still see the flushed skin, and he decides to continue teasing a bit more.

“Oh, so what is it then, if it’s not what I think?”

When there’s no answer, and Yugyeom’s still not moving to change, Bambam gives up, and he says, “Fine, fine, keep it a secret, I don’t need to know anyway. And why aren’t you changing? Don’t you have classes or something?”

“Uh. Right,” Yugyeom mutters, and slowly pulls off the sweatshirt he had slept in.

From where he’s sitting, Bambam can see that the flush has worked its way down to even Yugyeom’s back, and it only makes him more curious what the dream was about, to have flustered his friend so much. Although he had given up questioning earlier, seeing that Yugyeom’s more affected than he initially though only makes Bambam more curious, so he starts again, “So, what’s this dream of yours about, really? We’ve talked about wet dreams and the like before, so it’s got to be more than that. Did you dream of a celebrity? Someone you know –“

When Yugyeom sudden freezes while changing, Bambam knows he’s hit the jackpot. “Oh my god, it’s someone you know? WHO?”

Bambam turns Yugyeom to face him, and he’s looking into the taller boy’s eyes, scanning them for any reaction as he runs through a list of cute girls that Yugyeom knows, while his friend struggles from his grip. Bambam manages to hold him though, and when there’s no reaction to any of the girls’ names, Bambam starts listing off professors and teachers, even moving on to the male students (because, that would be a very plausible reason to be embarrassed, wouldn’t it? Having such dreams with a guy friend in it when you’re straight?). Eventually Yugyeom stops struggling, because Bambam’s choices are getting more farfetched and he wonders who he might have missed out.

Oh.

“Is it me?”

The flustered look on Yugyeom’s face as he grabs his bag and runs out of the room is hilarious, and Bambam laughs a little too loudly. _Poor guy, having such dreams of his best friend_ , Bambam thinks, sniggering as he slides back into bed, happy that his first lesson is in the afternoon.

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a really cute [prompt](http://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/post/147031326403/one-night-in-bed-you-ignore-all-common-sense-by) from tumblr which I had to write. 
> 
> I wrote Bambam and Youngjae (and a bit of Yugyeom), mostly because they're side characters in my on-going GOT7 fic [This isn't Clickbait](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7187915/chapters/16313120), and I don't get to write enough of them there. And also because their friendships (Bambam and Youngjae, and Yugbam) are really cute.
> 
> I hope you like this one-shot! Let me know what you think :)


End file.
